Nila Patel was repeatedly kicked and stamped on by her attacker
14:24, 26 Feb 2026Updated 18:16, 26 Feb 2026
Nila Patel was pronounced dead in hospital two days after the attack(Image: Leicestershire Police)
Eyewitnesses have described how a man “ferociously” attacked Nila Patel, kicking and repeatedly stamping on her moments after he crashed his car.
The incident happened in June last year outside the Leicester Royal Infirmary, moments after drug dealer Chukwuemeka Ahanonu, who was high on cannabis, had crashed his car, flipping it onto its roof on the junction of Welford Road and Aylestone Road in Leicester city centre.
On Thursday (February 26), the murder trial at Leicester Crown Court heard from four witnesses to the fatal attack.
One woman who works at the hospital, giving evidence from behind a curtain, said she rushed to help after seeing the crash. She described the white BMW with one flat tyre going on the wrong side of the road before the collision.
She said: “It hit a lamppost first, hit a traffic light and the car flipped and landed on its roof – it was a shocking experience to see it.”
She said other doctors and nurses from the hospital were rushing to the car and she joined them.
She said: “Someone emerged from the car and started running towards town in the middle of the road.
“It was a man, fairly young, and he was running really quickly – for having come out of a car that had crashed it was really fast.
“The [hospital] security staff started running after him. The man continued running then made a sudden stop.”
She then described the moment Ahanonu attacked Miss Patel, who had been walking away from him, on the phone to a friend.
The witness said: “[She] was fairly short in comparison and his height was towering over her.
“He started punching [her] – it was left hand, right hand, left hand, right hand. Three to five punches and the person fell onto the pavement.
“People started screaming. The tall lad put both his hands against the wall to support himself and then with his right leg he started kicking the person.
“The kicks were really going for it. The security guards got to him and were able to stop him while he was still trying to go for more kicks and resisting them.
“He wanted to continue what he was doing.”
Ahanonu was detained at the scene(Image: Leicester Media)
Lola Charles, who had been on the exercise equipment over the road at Nelson Mandela Park, described heading towards the scene of the crash and then seeing Ahanonu running up the road.
She said: “Two security guards from the hospital tried to get him but he pushed himself off them and kept running.
“A whole group of people started to run away but one woman didn’t and I saw her get pushed to the ground by the man.
“I saw him stomp on her head repeatedly, forcefully putting his foot down on her head.
“He had one of his arms against the brick wall while he was doing it, for more control.
“She looked motionless. It didn’t look like she was moving – it felt like her soul had left her body.”
She said there were between six and 12 stamps before the security guards got Ahanonu away from Miss Patel.
The witness said: “I think he got one more in while they grabbed him.”
Adam Barker was on the pavement where the attack happened and saw Ahanonu running up the middle of the road pursued by the hospital security guards.
He said Miss Patel “wouldn’t have had any idea” that barefoot Ahanonu was running up behind her, about to attack.
He said: “He came up behind and knocked her to the ground. He proceeded to stamp on her head.
“The guards caught up with him and got him to the ground and restrained him.”
Another witness, Jeremy Clay, who had been walking home from work, was on the opposite side of the road and heard shouting at about 5.35pm that day.
He said he saw Ahanonu “ferociously” attack the woman on the opposite pavement. He praised the hospital security guards for tackling Ahanonu. He said: “I wish I had 10 per cent of their spirit.”
Ahanonu has pleaded guilty to Miss Patel’s manslaughter but denies murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to his mental health issues.
He has also pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, assaulting a police officer and possessing cannabis with intent to supply.
The trial continues.
